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1. black
2. grey
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The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.

Bobby McFerrin

Related Topics

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More Bobby McFerrin Quotes

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  The audience is like my instrument. It’s not just me up there, it’s collaborative.

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• 

  Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion.

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• 

  I actually fought the idea for a while because it seemed almost too radical, but it became obvious what I was supposed to be doing.

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• 

  When we listen to improvisational jazz, or solo classical violinists, the way they phrase and inflect melodies feels vocal, like they’re talking to us.

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  I do a lot of performing, but don’t get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.

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• 

  I think play and joy and feeling good deserve more of our time. I don’t see why adults are supposed to grow out of those things.

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• 

  If I sing “you broke my heart, you left me flat,” everyone knows exactly what that means – they know the story. But if I sing a line that’s plaintive or wailing, people can experience their own set of emotions and their own story.

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  I found that if I sang a line using the consonants, vowels, shadings, and inflection we recognize as human language sounds, people responded as if I were talking to them.

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• 

  Then I came up with this crazy idea just to walk out on the stage with no band at all and just start singing whatever came to mind.

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• 

  When I was figuring out how to perform solo, I wanted to move back and forth between bass riffs, melody, and harmony, so I often used sounds instead of — or alongside — the words of a song.

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• 

  I couldn’t do anything without faith. I couldn’t open up my eyes, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing.

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• 

  The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.

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  Here’s a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don’t worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don’t worry, be happy Don’t worry, be happy now

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• 

  Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It’s open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.

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• 

  I’d actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.

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• 

  I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be.

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